BERLIN, July 10 -- Mayor of Hamburg Olaf Scholz has rejected calls for his resignation after the German city was rocked by a series of violent protests surrounding the G20 summit over the weekend.
Speaking on a German television show Sunday night, Scholz told viewers that he had no intention of stepping down.
On Monday, Hamburg residents were still clearing the debris of the most violent demonstrations which Germany has experienced in decades.
Hundreds were injured in a series of escalating clashes between protestors and police which lasted from Thursday until Sunday. Masked demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, set dozens of cars ablaze and ransacked local shops.
Residents, many of whom were already skeptical of the city's original intentions to host the event, reacted with fury at the inability of more than 20,000 deployed police officers to prevent protests from spinning out of control.
At a G20 demonstration with the title "welcome to hell" on Thursday night, violent protestors had been left free to roam and loot in Hamburg's Schanze district for three hours until police finally intervened.
Appearing on the television show "Anne Will" Sunday night, Jan Reinicke, chairman of the Hamburg police union, conceded that ensuring the safety of international dignitaries at the summit had taken priority over the protection of local residents.
Reinecke blamed politicians, including Scholz, for the many injured police officers and widespread destruction across the city. Police staff "feared for their lives", he added.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Hamburg, which acts as the municipal opposition, demanded that Scholz resign as a consequence of his failure to assess the security situation correctly.
Reacting to such criticism, Scholz admitted that he too was "frightened" and "depressed" by the excessive violence and looting witnessed over the course of the G20 summit. He admitted that authorities had failed to ensure everyone's safety as expected by residents.
The mayor defended the police's role in the protests as "heroic" and called for those who had engaged in looting and street fights to be punished severely.
The demonstrations marked a "brutalization" of society which was "unacceptable", Scholz went on. He demanded explanations from the left-wing extremist scene in Hamburg which had "invited" violent protestors to the city.
Scholz received cross-bench support from the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery Peter Altmeier. Speaking to NDR on Monday, Altmeier said that he "could not see a reason why he should step down".
While German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G20 had achieved "good results" in "some areas", she joined in the criticism of escalating violence at demonstrations which was "intolerable".
Merkel promised that her government would assist those residents affected and promised to discuss the provision of financial compensation with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.